How to Prevent Premature Development in Leather Release Paper

Leather Release Paper is a special paper used in manufacturing of artificial leather. It is coated with polyurethane or PVC resins and then a fabric is pasted on it for further processing to produce synthetic leather which is used in making shoes, bags, upholstery etc. It has unique texture in its coating and it can copy patterns on the resulting synthetic leather. It is also known as casting papers and is of high quality. It has good strength, small expansion, stable and can withstand heat and chemical attack.

The invention relates to a method of preventing premature development of undesired surface gloss in release paper carrying a TPX coating which is in use in the manufacture of artificial leather. The invention enables the paper to be reused without degradation of its surface characteristics. This is achieved by the addition of a filler such as glass microspheres. The invention further relates to an improved method of forming and applying such filled release paper to moulds.

In the present invention a filled TPX composition is prepared by incorporating a filler such as glass microspheres in an amount of 10-70% of the total weight of the composition. The composition is then coated onto a release paper and the coated paper is used in the manufacture of artificial leather where it is required to be stripped from the mould after curing. In some instances it is desirable to reuse the same mould several times during a production run. It is found that the re-use performance of the fillered TPX film in this situation is superior to that of an unfilled TPX film. This is achieved without deterioration in other desirable properties such as embossability and thermal stability.

Various tests were conducted in order to assess the effect of the inclusion of the filler on re-use performance, re-usability and surface characteristics. It was found that the addition of the filler does tighten up against premature release by ensuring that the cast remains on the fabric until it is ready to be stripped. At the same time the addition of the filler prevents the casting from becoming detached over a wide area and thereby makes it possible to retain a more uniform finish in the finished product.

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